I didn't get notified. I only found out that they'd moved their domain and hosting customers to Pickaweb because (1) my domains didn't auto-renew and (2) when I logged into the Gradwell Cloud control panel to attempt to renew manually, nothing would work. I sent Gradwell an e-mail and only then did I find out that they'd sold this particular part of the business to Pickaweb.

Not an unexpected result

However, the CMA's assertion that BT's takeover of EE has been given the go ahead on the basis that there will still be four mobile operators surely won't sit well with O2 and Three. It suggests that a Three-O2 merger may be blocked, as that would reduce the number of mobile operators from four to three.

Might O2 and Three have a case when they claim that they must be allowed to merge in order to realistically compete with the BT-EE behemoth?

GAME

I find it quite odd that Gamestation has replaced what GAME used to be in terms or store atmosphere and clientele, and they essentially moved the GAME brand to replace Electronics Boutique. And who remembers when Electronics Boutique was Future Zone?

When the US company Electronics Boutique bought the struggling Rhino Group, owners of Future Zone, that's when things began to go downhill. They later swallowed GAME and merged the two, keeping the GAME name before acrimoniously severing ties with their US owners.

UK high street retail is rather fucked at the moment. HMV essentially have no competition since the demise of Woolworths and Zavvi, yet they are struggling. And with GAME's prior purchase of Gamestation from a very desperate Blockbuster, the lack of competition on the high street isn't healthy for the consumer.

No wonder downloadable game services are so attractive, not only are they more convenient, they are often far more competitive in terms of pricing and regularly offer far more choice.

Length...

..of contract also pisses me off.

It's not just the fact that you're taking a reaming on your monthly bill, but now you're also getting shackled to a rack in a damp dungeon for said reaming for 18 or even 24 months if you want an upgrade.

I managed to renew my contract last November - not for an iPhone; I went for a Sony Ericsson C905 - for a 12 month term, but it wasn't easy. I doubt I'll be able to renew for anything less than 18 months this December when I will want to upgrade again.

I've been on the network since it was Cellnet (that's "Cellnet", not "BT Cellnet") and they've had a considerable sum of my money each month, on time and without fail or interruption, over the years, and some relatively light usage.

You'd think they'd offer me a nice phone once a year like they used to, at a fair monthly cost.

However, for the past few years, what was a once simple decision-making exercise over which phone I was going to have has progressed to become a "negotiation" of sorts. This will most likely proceed to the classification of "argument" with a snotty O2 salesperson this coming November.

As an 11 year Cellnet/O2 veteran who has previously recommended the service to many others in the past, I'm afraid to say that O2 aren't looking too attractive a service provider right now, what with increases in contract length, ridiculous upgrade fees and higher monthly costs.

Add to this the recent shitty service caused by frequent, unexplained outages. They might as well just despatch a crack team of O2 representatives in vans to visit each and every subscriber's home so they can kick them in the genitals.

A Good Song...

"So you've now asked somebody 95 times very nicely and very politely can you please stop doing that and 95 times they've refused to..."

So that's 95 missed opportunities to fix your business model and/or release some quality music that represents good value for money.

Stop forcing the Sugababes down our throats at the expense of non-manufactured, unknown bands who have actual musical talent. In fact, cut back drastically on all forms of marketing and let us find the music we want to listen to.

Offer downloads at a reasonable price. Delivery of digital media should cost far less than physical CDs, and as an intangible purchase it should be priced accordingly. Don't expect £12+ for a downloaded album. Cut that figure in half -- twice.

Also, use DRM-free lossless audio (I prefer FLAC). You don't need DRM, you need to learn to trust the consumer once more, like you had to when people could just copy vinyl and CDs to cassette tape. Sure, you whined like bitches that "home taping is killing music" for a while back then, but at least you didn't treat your customer base as a bunch of criminals.

Give us some huge, super high resolution images in lieu of the gatefold album covers of old. Allow us to print them out on some glossy paper and use them to adorn our walls.

If I can get all that for £3 a pop I'd buy three or four a week, provided that the quality is there. Right now I spend pretty much dick all as most releases don't seem to be worth the investment.

[And well done to the AC above who mentioned SAHB, that's a prime example of quality music and some of the most memorable album art ever. "Tomorrow Belongs to Me" is one of my favourites.]

A surefire way...

..to drive away customers.

With no illegal downloads, the Internet would be an empty shell and people would have no need for broadband connections in the home.

As a great man once said, "If they were to take away all of the porn and illegal downloads on the Internet, there would only be one site left - a petition site calling for the return of all of the porn and illegal downloads."

I'd employ her...

Just what Pipex customers need

Customer support was bad enough anyway, without ditching a bunch of the support staff. I guess they shouldn't have spent all that money on The Hoff.

I used to recommend Pipex to friends, but the service began to go downhill. Their billing system is very badly broken and they seem to be unable to fix it.

With the way in which they dealt with such issues (or rather how they did not) and quite simply the impolite manner in which they addressed the two customers I had referred and me, I just had to leave.

I switched to Sky some time ago and everything has been just peachy since. Now I actively tell people looking for a broadband provider to avoid Pipex.